


Morale

by licenseplate



Category: Kakumeiki Valvrave | Valvrave the Liberator
Genre: But everything I write will be harueru anyway, Gen, I guess it can be harueru if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/licenseplate/pseuds/licenseplate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even cooking a simple egg is hard for Haruto, but L-Elf's got it under control, as always.<br/>(happy birthday L-Elf!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morale

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to my boy, L-Elf.  
> In honor of this day, I even cooked him ham and eggs myself.  
> I wish him happiness.

The lights are working properly. There is an adequate amount of windows. The ventilation system seems fine, but a routine check would do it good. The room is clean, save for one countertop where a carton of eggs lays, covered in eggshells and egg alike, some oil and water, and what was that? Burnt toast? L-Elf raises his eyes towards the one responsible for all that.

“Tokishima Haruto, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? Making a sunny side up egg. It’s a little hard though,” he says, attempting to crack an egg into the pan again, only to have some egg shells fall in as well. “Argh, I’m no good.”

L-Elf carefully maneuvers himself towards the boy, making sure he doesn’t step on the mess that extended onto the floor. How could someone be so incompetent? Even if L-Elf had spent years in the Karlstein facility, he at least knew how to crack eggs.

He takes a good look at the carton. Eggs from JIOR probably had more calcium than the ones Dorssian chickens produced or the cheap ones imported to Dorssia. L-Elf was lucky he had ever had fresh eggs before in his life. Protein was important to soldiers. He picks an egg up and cracks it against an empty bowl with a suitable amount of force before he empties its contents into it. He shoves Tokishima Haruto to the side and dumps whatever is in the pan into the sink before scrubbing it thoroughly, rinsing it, and putting it back on the hot stove. The water evaporates quickly from the pan.

“T-Thanks…”

L-Elf doesn’t reply. He puts some oil into the heated pan and then pours the egg from the bowl into it. The protein denatures beautifully, turning the opaque yellow into white from the outside in. He turns the heat down and covers the pan with a lid. He waits.

“L-Elf…”

“What is it, Tokishima Haruto?”

“I was supposed to make that.”

“Seeing as you’re thoroughly incapable of even cracking an egg, how do you expect to cook one?”

“It’s the thought that counts, L-Elf.”

His eyebrows twitch at the comment. “What do you mean?” He takes the lid off, letting steam escape. The egg is cooked just right with the yolk still runny. He puts a plate on the counter and gently nudges the egg onto it. “Here, eat.”

“I’m flattered, but… I was supposed to make this for you.” Tokishima Haruto takes out a pack of thinly sliced ham from under the counter. “I wanted to make you ham and eggs since you seem to like it so much.”

“What made you come to that conclusion?”

“Our first meeting, when you totally mopped the floor with me, remember?”

L-Elf grunts. He shoves some bread into the toaster. “I’ll make another.”

“No! You should eat this. You made it after all… and we’re out of eggs.”

L-Elf looks at the carton of eggs. One of the eggshells was turned over, making it seem like it was an uncracked egg. A terrible miscalculation on his part.

“Or… we can share?” Tokishima Haruto asks, hopeful. “You know, hope, despair, the curse, the whole package. We’re going half and half on everything, right?”

L-Elf almost chuckles as he takes the toast out with his bare hands and places it on the plate. “Fine. But not the yolk.”

Tokishima Haruto smiles at this. “I know. I won’t eat the yolk.”

“Good,” he replies. “Now why was it you wanted to make me ham and eggs? Even if you know I favor it, it seems to be terribly out of the blue.”

“Well…” Tokishima Haruto’s face slowly changes color like the egg, except that he’s turning red. The heat in the home economics room seems to have many effects. “Seeing as I don’t know when your birthday is I thought I would just celebrate it anyway. It must be lonely, not being able to celebrate your birthday… I just thought… You know… Sorry…I mean, you’ve been so helpful and stuff. I wanted to say thank you.”

“I do have a birthday. It is today. You are sharper than I gave you credit for. Now come, let’s eat before it goes cold.”

“It was just a guess though… Are you sure you’re not saying that just to make me happy?”

“Nonsense.”

 

L-Elf wonders why he lied to Tokishima Haruto. There was not much benefit in making the boy smile. He knows when his birthday is, and it isn’t today. He doubts he’ll be able to celebrate it like an average, naive JIORian, so for now this is good, this will have to do. He supposes he can indulge in some of his companion’s disgustingly sweet behavior and celebrate this day, as ordinary as it is. He’s not sure if he’s going to come out of this whole ordeal alive after all. He puts some egg into his mouth. It’s gone cold, but somehow sharing this meal has warmed his heart.


End file.
